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  • Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business

  • and life you love, and this is Q&A Tuesday. Today's question comes from Andes and he writes:

  • "Hi, Marie. Thank you for your inspiring Q&A Tuesdays. I'm a man and absolutely your fan.

  • My Q is I'm usually starting different projects in business and personal development with

  • great passion, but as a rule, sooner or later, I get bored with them. Could you advise on

  • how to keep my sparkling eyes? Have a fantastic day and thank you." -- Andes from Latvia

  • Andes, rocking question. I heard this many different ways from all different people.

  • Follow through is a habit; plain and simple. The reason you don't follow through is because

  • you have the habit yet. Here's the good news; you can make it a habit and here are three

  • tips to get you going.

  • Tip #1 -- Stop expecting your eyes to sparkle.

  • There's this notion that the act of creation should be joyful and fun and full of pixie

  • dust and fields of daisy diamonds. I don't even know what that means but it's bull hickey.

  • The act of creation is hard, Andes, you got to get this. It is hard my brother. Every

  • creator I know struggles to finish things and here's the deal; most people are amateurs

  • when it comes to creating so unfortunately they quit before the work gets done, but not

  • you Andes. You got to turn pro. You got to do the work and do it until it's finished.

  • You want to know what my eyes sometimes when I'm creating? They bleed because it's freaking

  • hard. Here's the deal; if you want to be successful at anything in life, you have to follow through,

  • and sometimes, that means pushing through even when things are a little unsparkly.

  • Tip #2 -- Start with your little balls.

  • Take a look at how you roll throughout your day. For example, do you complete what you

  • start or do you have a bunch of half done messes all over the place? In other words,

  • are you dropping the ball in all kinds of little ways? Here's the deal, Andes; if you

  • can't handle your little balls, what are you going to do with your big balls? Here's what

  • I suggest. When you're writing an e-mail, don't half finish one and then start another

  • one; follow through and complete one e-mail at a time, or when you're paying your bills,

  • don't pay some of your bills and leave the rest of the pile till later; get it all done.

  • May sound trite but important habits like follow through are built one small ball at

  • a time. But seriously, this is all about the compound effect of simple daily choices. When

  • you commit to not dropping your small balls, your big balls handle themselves.

  • Tip #3 -- Don't make it optional.

  • Have you noticed that when you have to do something, you just do it, whether it's showing

  • up for work or getting a project done for a client or getting your passport renewed?

  • When you have no option, you just get it done; you follow through. The reason most of us

  • don't follow through is because we give ourselves options not to. We think that a promise to

  • ourselves doesn't count as much as a promise to someone else. Now strap yourselves in because

  • here comes a massive tweetable:

  • "If you want to be responsible, keep your promises to others. If you want to be successful,

  • keep your promises to yourself."

  • And now, a bonus tip -- Put yourself on a project diet.

  • Let's be real here, can we? You and I both know that creative folk like us, we go on

  • project binges. We walk up to the project buffet and think it's all-you-can-eat. No!

  • You are going on a project diet right now. You can only do one project at a time. You

  • cannot put anything else on your plate until you finish that one project. You've got to

  • get in the habit of taking on one thing and finishing it before you take on anything else.

  • In other words, stay away from the buffet.

  • There you go, Andes. Your Q just got A'ed. Obviously, there's a lot more we could talk

  • about when it comes to follow through, but these strategies will definitely get you started.

  • Now I really want to hear from you. What's the single most effective strategy you've

  • used to stay focused and follow through?

  • As always the best discussions happen after the episode over at MarieForleo.com so go

  • there and leave a comment now.

  • Did you like this video? If so, subscribe and share it with your friends. If you want

  • even more great resources to have a business and life that you love, plus some insights

  • from me that I only talk about in e-mail, get your buns over to MarieForleo.com and

  • sign up for e-mail updates.

  • Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special

  • gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you next time

  • on MarieTV.

Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business

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